What should the humidity be in my incubator?

[Missy020219]

I was given some advice from a relative about humidity in the incubator. She said she always had it at %60, removed the red plug closest to the heater at the beginning and then she removes the other plug at day 18. But when I read about incubating on the internet it says to have your humidity around %40 and then at lockdown have it at %55 -%60. Will having my humidity at %55-%60 at the beginning affect my hatch rate?

 

[Pyxis]

Yes, it very well could. That's pretty high for the first 18 days. If it's too high, the eggs don't lose enough moisture, and then they quit late in incubation.

Here's a very good article on humidity that explains it well:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubation-humidity.73386/

 

[Ted_Harrell]

personally I would go a little lower for the first 18 days, more like 45-50%

 

[Phunktacular]

I use my incubator for both incubation and hatching, at the moment. When I have eggs in incubation and none in lockdown, I keep the humidity at 45-50%. When I have eggs in lockdown and none in incubation, I keep it 60-65%. When I am running non-stop (like now) with eggs in both incubation and lockdown, I set it for low 50% and high 55%.

I am averaging approx. 70% hatch rates with placing 90+ eggs in incubation, at a time.

 

[Wilson96]

I’m using a Nurture Right 360, am at day 18 and can’t get the humidity over 60%
I’m using both A & B compartments and filling til it overflows.

 

[igorsMistress]

I base my humidity on how the air cells look. If they're too big at day 7 I increase it, too small and I lower it, then check again in a few days. Eggs are porous and they don't all loose moisture at the same rate so anything you read about humidity is a general guideline. Mark your air cells so you have a guide as to how big they are on day 7 and check again no later than day 14. That's not too late to adjust and still have a good hatch.

 

[Wilson96]

I’ll do that and weigh them next time. Unfortunately we are at day 18 now. I did mark the air sacs last night.

 

[Happy Helper]

My experience with the Nature Right incubator has been that mine has run around 40% range when I add 1/4 cup of distilled water to it daily or sometimes morning and evening.
When I increased the humidity on the 18th day by adding 1 cup water to the 2nd water pot, it didn't do much at first but when the eggs started hatching the humidity went way high. So what I am going to do this time is not panic and add more water and just wait for the hatch. I had water dripping under the incubator when I added too much water trying to get the humidity up. I had good results anyway, 100% on my farm eggs and 9 hatched out of 13 from shipped eggs.

 

[Taylorenee]

I’m using a Nurture Right 360, am at day 18 and can’t get the humidity over 60%
I’m using both A & B compartments and filling til it overflows.

Do you have the vent fully open? And also adding warm water helps alot

 

[jdublu]

Please keep us posted. I have the nurture right as well. I’m on day 2, and my humidity has been at 52 with vent almost fully open and only A compartment filled. I’ve been reading several different recommendation for humidity..some say 45 other say 60 for first 18 days. I received shipped eggs too so that’s an entire other issue which I’ve been reading about. Good luck!